Riding the Raisina Tiger

Riding the Raisina Tiger - a Politico-military thriller about an Army Chief who decided to take things into his own hands. AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD ON 26 JAN ON OCCASION OF REPUBLIC DAY FROM https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Raisina-Tiger-Story-military-ebook/dp/B01ALCCNSS

Blogitorial

Click to read the article on Swordarm

Custom Search Engine - Scans Selected News Sites

Loading

Sunday, 29 December 2013

India and Pakistan
today agreed that people who inadvertently cross the frontier would be
immediately returned to their respective countries. The decision was made
during a five-day biannual meeting of officials of the Pakistan Rangers and
India's Border Security Force here.

A statement issued
after the talks said the two sides decided to continue efforts to ensure peace
and tranquility on the international border.

The two border
guard forces agreed that people who inadvertently cross the frontier would be
immediately returned to their respective countries. The two sides reached
consensus on using communication channels more effectively to control
violations on the frontier. They also agreed on “zero tolerance” for smuggling.
Consensus was reached stopping illegal construction‚ removal of wild growth and
maintenance of boundary pillars. — PTI

Peace talks

The
decision has been taken during a five-day biannual meeting of officials of the
BSF and Pak Rangers

The two sides have decided to continue
efforts to ensure peace and tranquility on the international border

Consensus has also been reached on stopping
illegal construction‚ removal of wild growth and maintenance of boundary
pillars

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131229/ground.htm

2014 to bring new
dawn on Indo-Pak relations?

With leadership
transition in the major power centres in Pakistan going smoothly, Nawaz after
being 200 days in power has finally begun to look like he is in control. For
India this is welcome news, and may provide a glimmer of hope in the New Year.

Raj Chengappa

The joke doing the
rounds is that Nawaz Sharif is formally taking over as Prime Minister of
Pakistan on January 1, 2014. That’s because ever since he was elected Prime
Minister in June this year, he has had to work towards taking control and
consolidating his hold over the various centres of power and has only now
succeeded in demonstrating that he is firmly in the saddle.

He crossed the
first hurdle when in September Asif Ali Zardari stepped down as President
without too much fuss at the end of his term. Nawaz’s handpicked nominee
Mamnoon Hussain, a low-profile party acolyte, succeeded Zardari, ensuring that
at least one possible centre of power wouldn’t bother Nawaz too much.

In November, Nawaz
had to do a tightrope walk to choose a chief of the army staff to succeed
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who was to retire at the end of the month. It was
apparent that there was some resistance building in the army as Sharif
announced his successor only two days before Kayani laid down office. By
appointing Raheel Sharif, who was third in the line of seniority, Nawaz had sought
to establish control over the country’s key power centre. In his previous
tenures Nawaz has had a bad run with the army chiefs he appointed and it is to
be seen whether his namesake will behave differently.

Then early this
month Sharif heaved a sigh of relief when Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry, who had often been charged with judicial overreach, retired. Chaudhry
had emerged as a third power centre in Pakistan when he took on Zardari and
even forced Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to resign for being in contempt
of the nation’s highest court for not acting on its orders. Chaudhry’s
successor, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, is known as “the gentleman’s judge” and is
not expected to adopt an activist approach while dealing with Nawaz’s government.

With leadership
transition in the major power centres in Pakistan going smoothly, Nawaz after
being 200 days in power has finally begun to look like he is in control — hence
the joke. For India this is welcome news. Nawaz had promised better relations
with Delhi when he came to power. But he soon belied all expectations when the
Pakistan Army stepped up violations of the ceasefire agreement on the Line of
Control.

When he met Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN in New York in September,
Nawaz agreed that the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the
two armies should meet soon to sort out issues on the LoC. That meeting took
place only last week at the Wagah border, making it obvious that Nawaz was
waiting for the new army chief to take charge before he made any peace
overtures to India.

Prior to
announcing the DGMO’s meeting, he sent Shahbaz Sharif, his younger brother and
Chief Minister of Pakistan Punjab, ostensibly to be chief guest at the World
Cup Kabaddi final in Ludhiana but more to pacify the UPA and gauge the
political mood in India. Shahbaz made the right noises and talked of moving
forward on trade issues, including granting India the Most Favoured Nation
Status (MFN) by changing the nomenclature.

The change in
terminology was being suggested partly because MFN, when translated into Urdu,
would read ‘Sabse Chaheta Mulk’ or ‘Sabse Pasandeeda Mulk’ — something that may
not go down well with the fundamentalists in Pakistan. So Shahbaz said they
were now proposing to call it a ‘Non-Discriminatory Trade Agreement’ that would
have the same import as granting India’s MFN status.

Shahbaz wanted the
Commerce Secretaries to meet soon to sort out pending issues to move forward.
But was careful not to make any commitments on the sequential roadmap that had
been worked out by the two countries in September 2012, in which the first step
was Pakistan removing all restrictions on trade by the Wagah-Attari land route.
Shahbaz also wanted the National Security Advisers of the two countries to meet
and cooperate on fighting terror. This is viewed as a way of addressing India’s
prime concern by making it more visible rather than using the backchannel to
negotiate.

All these were
positive signals but India has rightly reacted cautiously to the fresh moves by
the Sharif brothers to normalise relations. In the DGMO talks held at Wagah –
the first such meeting in 15 years — Pakistan did harp on its old theme of a UN
monitored ceasefire on the LoC but got down to practicalities of maintaining
tranquillity, including re-energising the existing mechanisms like hotlines to
do so. With the Pakistan Army’s prestige on the line, India is waiting to see
whether it would keep its word and bring down tensions on the border. In
January, more overtures are expected to be made by Pakistan, particularly by
demonstrating progress in the trial to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 to book.
The meeting of the two NSAs is likely to be held soon and if the climate
improves then the two commerce secretaries may meet to move forward on trade
issues.

As yet no one is
talking of Manmohan Singh visiting Pakistan just before he completes his second
term. But the recent thaw does provide a glimmer and the New Year may well
bring a new dawn on relations between the two countries. But keep your fingers
firmly crossed, lest it proves to be a false one again.

NEW DELHI: The
ongoing diplomatic kerfuffle over the Devyani Khobragade episode is no hurdle
as far defence deals with the US are concerned. India and the US have inked
another mega contract, the $1.01 billion one for six additional C-130J
"Super Hercules" aircraft, while some others are being finalized.

Defence ministry
sources said the "letter of offer and acceptance" for the six new
four-engine C-130Js, which will be delivered within three years, was signed on
Friday under the US government's "foreign military sales" (FMS)
programme.

IAF already has
six C-130Js tactical airlift aircraft, ordered for $962 million in 2007, which
are based at the Hindon airbase on the outskirts of Delhi. The six new C-130Js,
also configured for "special operations" as the first six, will be
based at Panagarh in West Bengal.

Panagarh will also
house the headquarters of the new mountain strike corps, christened XVII Corps
with a total of over 80,000 soldiers, being raised by the Army in a project
worth around Rs 90,000 crore. This new corps will plug operational gaps along
the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) as well as give "some serious
ground offensive capabilities" against China for the first time.

The rugged C-130J,
as also the bigger C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlift aircraft acquired
from the US, can even land at a small forward airbase on a semi-prepared
runway. Crucial to counter China's massive build-up of border infrastructure,
this capability was amply demonstrated when IAF landed a C-130J on the Daulat
Beg Oldi airstrip in eastern Ladakh, at an altitude of 16,614-feet just
seven-km from the LAC, in August this year.

The US has already
bagged deals close to $10 billion over the last decade in the lucrative Indian
defence market. The other deals on the anvil are the ones for 22 Apache attack
helicopters, 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers, four P-8I maritime patrol aircraft
and 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers, together worth another $4 billion or so.

The US has already
bagged deals close to $10 billion over the last decade in the lucrative Indian
defence market. The other deals on the anvil are the ones for 22 Apache attack
helicopters, 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers, four P-8I maritime patrol aircraft
and 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers, together worth another $4 billion or so.

"The CNC
(contract negotiation committee) for the Chinooks has completed its work, while
the one for the Apaches is on the verge of finalization. The M-777 howitzers'
contract was stuck on the offsets proposal but is now being sorted out,"
said a MoD source.

That's not all.
The US is also in the contention for the over Rs 15,000 crore project to equip
the 355 infantry battalions of the Indian Army with third-generation,
shoulder-fired anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

After the US
initially created roadblocks in the transfer of technology (ToT) for its
"Javelin" ATGMs, India had turned to the Israeli "Spike"
ATGMs for the project, which will involve an initial import of the tank-killing
missiles followed by ToT to defence PSU Bharat Dynamics for indigenous manufacture.

But the A K
Antony-led Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) last month put on hold a decision
on clearing the Israeli case after the US offered a joint project to
manufacture the next-generation of ATGMs. "The MoD will consider both the
American and Israeli projects now and choose the one which suits India
better," said the source.